John Morrison's dream is to be able to use state-sanctioned medical marijuana by this summer to help the Springfield resident better manage symptoms of his multiple sclerosis.

“It could help me walk better and talk better and think better,” Morrison, 61, a former Reuters news service reporter said after he spoke to state officials at a public hearing Wednesday on proposed rules for Illinois' medical marijuana pilot program.

People who could potentially qualify as patients for the program, as well as businessmen interested in opening one of the 21 cultivation centers and 60 dispensaries, told officials they want to see the program up and running quicker.

They also pleaded for fewer financial roadblocks for patients and entrepreneurs in what could be a $20 million- to $30 million-a-year industry once marijuana begins to be sold in a heavily regulated environment to patients with 35 different medical conditions sometime next year.

“I think they're being overly cautious,” Morrison said.

About 80 people attended the hearing at the University of Illinois Springfield after a similar hearing May 5 in Chicago attracted about 200 people. Public comments on proposed rules for the program will be accepted for another week and a half and can be submitted online at www.mcpp.Illinois.gov.

Dennis Garland, 65, of Chatham can't understand the state's trepidation. A former parts manager for a Springfield car dealership, he has used marijuana on the black market for decades to deal with chronic back pain and peripheral neuropathy.

He testified at the hearing and said afterward that all of the taxes and fees that would be charged by the program would boost the price he now pays on the black market — $7 per gram for one or two joints — to $30 or $40 per gram.

“Most folks aren't going to be able to afford this,” he said.

Garland said he receives Social Security Disability and spends “a few hundred dollars” a month on illegal marijuana. Because of the additional cost he would expect to pay for legal medical pot, he doesn't plan to sign up for the pilot program.

That's a big worry for state officials working to make the program successful after the General Assembly approved it last year, said Robert Morgan, the program's statewide coordinator and general counsel for the Illinois Department of Public Health.

“I think a lot of people are concerned about costs and accessibility of the program,” he said after the hearing.

Dan Linn, executive director of the Illinois chapter of the National Organization to Reform Marijuana Laws, estimated that the price of medical marijuana in Illinois could be $10 to $25 per gram.

Page 2 of 3 - This amount still could put it out of reach for some patients, he said. Medical marijuana isn't covered by traditional health insurance.

A challenge for the state, Morgan said, is that fees, taxes and other costs must fulfill the legislature's mandate that the program be self-supporting.

“Tens of thousands” of patients are expected to take part in the program, Morgan said. The choices they make — which dispensaries to buy medical pot from and in what quantity — could put competitive pressure on growers and dispensaries to reduce prices, he said.

“My hope is that any patient who wishes to participate has the ability to do so,” he said.

Officials already have made some changes in the proposed rules, reducing the suggested annual fee for patients to $100 from $150, and as low as $50 for people with disabilities, Morgan said.

He expects more changes in the rules will be made before they are finalized, potentially by the end of the summer. He wouldn't reveal what changes might be made but said some of the criticisms raised by citizens at the hearings can't be addressed through rules.

Some at the Springfield hearing said it's not fair for patients to be banned from the program, in most cases, if they have a felony conviction. And they said some patients will be discouraged from applying if they have to submit to fingerprinting.

Those requirements are part of the law and would need to be changed by the General Assembly, Morgan said.

Garth Reynolds, Springfield-based executive director of the Illinois Pharmacists Association, said pharmacists want an official role in the program to protect patients.

He suggested that proposed rules be changed so any doctors recommending patients for the program are suggested or required to consult with pharmacists to make sure marijuana wouldn't cause harmful interactions with prescription medicines the patients are taking.

“We're being left out of this process,” Reynolds said.

JoLynn Bartlett, 49, a former home health care nurse from Bolingbrook who came down with a painful, disabling condition after being hit by a drunken driver 20 years ago, said she wants legal medical marijuana sooner rather than later to reduce the number of pills she must take — and reduce those pills' side effects for her kidneys and liver.

“I'm asking for some kind of expedited move on it,” she said at the hearing.

Her doctor is afraid to write letters of recommendation for patients because of worry that it will damage his reputation, Bartlett said.

“I don't know how to alleviate those fears,” she said, asking state officials for help in communicating with doctors.

Linn encouraged the state to do a better job of dispelling incorrect perceptions of the program among doctors, some of whom think they need special certification to write recommendation letters for prospective medical marijuana patients.

Page 3 of 3 - He urged officials to proceed with more urgency because patients who worked for 10 years to convince lawmakers to approve the program are dying off. At the current pace, he said, no marijuana or marijuana products will be available until at least spring 2015.

“The whole idea is to get patients out of the criminal element and above the table,” Linn said.